A ford at Red Rail near Hoarwithy is
recorded in 1652. It is likely to have been in existence much
earlier than that. This shows Red Rail Ford on Isaac Taylor's
'New map of the County of Hereford', published in 1754.
The ford went out of use after the
building of a bridge a short distance upstream at Hoarwithy.
This is the first edition OS map of 1886.
In the 1960s an excavation on the
eastern, Kings Caple, side of the ford found a cobbled road.
We decided to find out if a similar
feature existed on the western side.
Red
Rail Ford from the air. This view is from the south
with the ford in the centre of the photograph. The road
through the ford led along a hollow-way immediately beyond the clump of trees at the extreme
left, across the main road (running top to bottom through the
middle) and then along the hedgeline to the east.
Members of the group removing the
topsoil from the trench.
After several hours hard digging the
surface of a road was found.
The surface of the road
Red Rail Ford,
August 27th
Following visiting the site on August 17th,
Ross Sub Aqua Club
dived at the site of the old river crossing at Red Rail Ford,
Hoarwithy.
